A former speechwriter for Barack Obama chronicles the challenges of learning to ride the waves in It's Only Drowning: A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground. David Litt (Thanks, Obama) braved New Jersey's cold Atlantic waves and unpredictable hours with his teacher: his conservative brother-in-law, Matt.
At 34, Litt felt isolated by the Covid-19 pandemic, had "situational depression," and struggled with "existential terror" for the future. In contrast, Matt, a Harley-driving, anti-vaxxer Joe Rogan fan, was content. Pursuing Matt's hobby seemed reasonable, although Litt soon realized that "learning to surf is like learning a language that wants to kill you." His hope of surfing simply to achieve "not being depressed" soon became a goal of surfing Hawaii's North Shore, the sport's mecca. Litt tenuously enlisted Matt's help, and Litt's self-deprecating descriptions of their skill differences are hilarious but poignant as the eager student and the expert teacher slowly bond. Passages of the men's time together are rife with surfing vocabulary. A "cleanup set" of waves might cause "ragdolling," or a surfer could "get barreled." Evocative details of frigid water, intense waves, and surfing techniques give a sense of thrill and danger. Through regular sessions on their New Jersey beaches and "surf travel" trips to Costa Rica, California, and Hawaii, Litt and Matt committed to sharing their common passion. "We hadn't changed each other's minds," Litt concludes, but they did discover neutral ground, an outcome Litt warmly savors. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.